Usually plugins aren't written by the same people who developed your web browser, which might mean that some of you have struggled to keep up to speed about the latest security vulnerabilities and latest updates. And clearly that's bad news when more and more hackers are exploiting the more commonly-used plugins in their attacks.

It's great that Mozilla has extended its service to offer an additional security check for users of other browsers. Hopefully it will encourage more computer users to keep their systems patched, and make life more difficult for hackers.

About the author

Graham Cluley runs his own award-winning computer security blog at https://grahamcluley.com, and is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and gives computer security presentations. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley